AJ Allmendinger is possibly the king of the road when it comes to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but there is absolutely no questioning that the 39-year old is the king of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
In Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 at the Roval, Allmendinger took his third-straight NXS win at the 2.28-mile 17-turn road course.
“This Hyper Ice Chevy, once it got into the lead, it was stupid fast,” Allmendinger said with pride following the win.
Allmendinger, who had a nearly-nine second lead with a few laps left, had to survive an overtime finish to score the victory.
“I knew [the yellow] was coming out,” Allmendinger explained. “It wasn’t going to go simple like that. That was a fight today. We had to be on defense early, worrying about the points. This place was tough to pass. The track was really slick to begin with obviously with all the rain.”
This victory marks Allmendinger’s sixth-career NXS win on a road course, which puts him in first-place all-time in Series history. Following the win, Allmendinger celebrated with a massive burnout:
The most road course wins of ANY @NASCAR_Xfinity Series driver EVER!@AJDinger wins on a road course for the sixth time. pic.twitter.com/AUxBlIJwFg
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 9, 2021
Allmendinger pulled to a 3.192-second victory margin over Austin Cindric in the two lap dash to the cash. Daniel Hemric, who pitted under the last caution for tires, rallied to finish third.
Justin Haley and Brandon Jones finished fourth and fifth.
Noah Gragson, Preston Pardus, Myatt Snider, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer rounded out the top-10 finishers in Saturday’s race.
Jeb Burton, Riley Herbst, Jeremy Clements and Myatt Snider are the four Playoff drivers who were eliminated after this race.
For Burton, he came just eight points shy of moving on, as he lost in a duel with his cousin Harrison Burton.
“Yeah, I made a couple of mistakes today,” Jeb Burton said. “I got the wall when I was side-by-side with Harrison. Luckily, it didn’t end our day. I just need some more laps here. I hadn’t raced here before. It was getting better and better. Appreciate Kaulig and everything they’re doing for me and congrats to AJ, he helped me a lot. Just needed a little bit more.”
Here are how the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Standings Look Heading into the Round of 8:
- AJ Allmendinger, 3,050 points
- Austin Cindric, 3,044
- Justin Allgaier, 3,021
- Noah Gragson, 3,017
- Daniel Hemric, 3,016
- Justin Haley, 3,015
- Harrison Burton, 3,008
- Brandon Jones, 3,003
[…] You can read a full race recap of the 2021 NXS Drive For The Cure 250 at Charlotte’s ROVAL here […]